Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Interface Design with a Homeless person

delian.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 107 posts

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#21

Post by MIT_Hacker »

weego wrote: post #20

This rather confused me. Even more so because some of the details seem to being live edited. A cycle courier for legal documents that gets to read the documents. He crewed on a sub (initially im sure it said commanded) yet doesn't get on with computers yet even though he is homeless he knows about the square product, and also having never worked in design knows about Dieter Rams, someone with almost no designers I've…

About the wording, I actually had a friend in the Navy who reached out and told me to change the verb. I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't think it was a strange experience to have!

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#22

Post by koide »

MIT_Hacker wrote: post #11
Daegalus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This just gave me a thought that could potentially be great but also scary at the same time. What if homeless people signed up for square? They will now be able to accept Credit Cards. As people don't carry cash anymore, the common thing people say is "I don't carry cash." because they don't, but then he whips out a device with square and says "No problem, I accept Credit Cards too!" Though, getting an Android or iOS…

This was actually the first thing that occurred to me as we got talking. I then realized it wouldn't really work since he probably doesn't have an active bank account to receive the money. I'd love the day when there are beggars using Square. It would mean that our designs are simple enough for a homeless person to use!

As you yourself have showed, "homeless person" != "dumb person".

I'm fairly certain a not despreciable amount of homeless people are totally capable of using complex designs.

Not that we should aim to making designs complex, but we shouldn't use "simple enough for the homeless" as a motto either.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#23

Post by anigbrowl »

Larry had actually been the messenger for the first documents in the Barry Bonds perjury case. Larry had been the first member of the public to know about the doping. He told me how reading those documents had ruined baseball for him.

I find this a bit unlikely. Then again, it might explain why he doesn't have a job as a bike messenger any more.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#25

Post by chmike »

weego wrote: post #20

This rather confused me. Even more so because some of the details seem to being live edited. A cycle courier for legal documents that gets to read the documents. He crewed on a sub (initially im sure it said commanded) yet doesn't get on with computers yet even though he is homeless he knows about the square product, and also having never worked in design knows about Dieter Rams, someone with almost no designers I've…

Homeless is not the same as a tramp or culture less... especially in San Francisco !

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#26

Post by MIT_Hacker »

anigbrowl wrote: post #23

Larry had actually been the messenger for the first documents in the Barry Bonds perjury case. Larry had been the first member of the public to know about the doping. He told me how reading those documents had ruined baseball for him. I find this a bit unlikely. Then again, it might explain why he doesn't have a job as a bike messenger any more.

It's probably not a true story, but a good one. And he said it quite confidently!

He said he stopped being a bike messenger because the fax machine and policy changes around legal documents requiring original signatures

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#27

Post by potatolicious »

MIT_Hacker wrote: post #14
wilfra wrote: post #12

I'm sure he was a really smart guy with an interesting story but you sound a bit naive in believing everything he said i.e. about the Bonds papers and his tours and all of that. Likely a lot of exaggeration, some straight bullshit and a little bit of truth. Great story though. And kudos to dropping a c-note on him. Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer or…

You know, I thought about this throughout the entire encounter. I wasn't sure if I could believe any of his stories. He seemed so genuine and so excited throughout the conversation that I gave him the benefit of the doubt. In terms of how much money I gave him, I decided that $100 was probably the minimum amount that could actually help him pursue the idea and as a college intern, I'm not sure I could have spared muc…

> "He seemed so genuine and so excited throughout the conversation that I gave him the benefit of the doubt."

The bulk of the homeless population is there in large part due to mental health issues. He can very well be genuine but completely off his rocker simultaneously.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#28

Post by MichaelApproved »

wilfra wrote: post #12

I'm sure he was a really smart guy with an interesting story but you sound a bit naive in believing everything he said i.e. about the Bonds papers and his tours and all of that. Likely a lot of exaggeration, some straight bullshit and a little bit of truth. Great story though. And kudos to dropping a c-note on him. Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer or…

Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer

I beleive it was the late, great, Greg Giraldo who said that beer and drugs are exactly what I would spend my money on so who am I to judge.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#29

Post by MichaelApproved »

wilfra wrote: post #12

I'm sure he was a really smart guy with an interesting story but you sound a bit naive in believing everything he said i.e. about the Bonds papers and his tours and all of that. Likely a lot of exaggeration, some straight bullshit and a little bit of truth. Great story though. And kudos to dropping a c-note on him. Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer or…

Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer

I beleive it was the late, great, Greg Giraldo who said that beer and drugs are exactly what I would spend my money on so who am I to judge what they do with the money I give them.

Re: Interface Design with a Homeless person

#30

Post by ivasilov »

I lived in the Tenderloin for 3 months during the past summer, one block from the shelter on Polk st. I've had conversations with numerous homeless people (while waiting for a bus) and all of them had an interesting story to tell (whether it's true or not, that's another issue). What really struck me was that every homeless is homeless by his own choice. They have families (which could help them) and money and yet they choose to sleep on the street. I've never had an incident with any of them.

One thing I didn't noticed until I moved out is that Tenderloin really teaches you to be humble. I would recommend anyone considering to start the next (insert buzzword here) startup to spend a month living in Tenderloin. You'll learn a lot about real-life problems, not just 1st world problems.

Post reply on HN